— OK, so neither the zoom-in on my iPhone nor the operator was capable of producing a sharp picture here.

But with the NHL trading deadline approaching, when two NHL general managers spend a morning skate sitting together at the top of the Pepsi Center’s lower bowl, as Joe Sakic and the Coyotes’ Don Malone did Monday — it’s going to draw some attention.

And perhaps raise some eyebrows.

Coyotes’ defenseman Keith Yandle, 28, especially a force on the power play, has a year remaining on his five-year, $26.5-million contract, and if Arizona’s housecleaning and rebuilding goes into high gear, he could go — despite the fact this is not some 34-year-old D-man heading into his final seasons. Mike Chambers summarizes Yandle as a player in our advance box this morning: Read more…

Ryan O’Reilly skates before the Avalanche’s game against the Edmonton Oilers December 19, 2013. Photo By Karl Gehring/The Denver Post

Sunday was generally an off day for most of the Avalanche. Forwards Alex Tanguay, Daniel Briere, Dennis Everberg, Marc-Andre Cliche and Paul Carey, defenseman Stefan Elliott and goalie Reto Berra did some drills with goalie whisperer Francois Allair. The other guys had light off-ice workouts. No significant news, other than coach Patrick Roy saying defensemen Jan Hejda and Brad Stuart are nursing injuries but likely to play Monday against the visiting Arizona Coyotes.

I visited with O’Reilly after a morning skate on the road recently to work on a Q&A piece for Colorado Rubber Hockey Magazine. You’ll have to read the magazine for the full interview, but here’s excerpts:

MC: Favorite sport outside hockey?
ROR: Beach volleyball, probably my second-favorite sport. My dad grew up coaching it at a high level, and still does. I used to watch beach volleyball all the time and really enjoy playing it. You’re always involved in every play, and it’s legs, hand-eye (coordination), powerful. You have to be explosive and smart with positioning. (O’Reilly said he plays beach volleyball in Toronto and at Lake Huron, near his home in Clinton, Ontario.)

MC: Game-day routine and go-to pregame meal?
ROR: I have two large salads as my pregame meal, pretty much every time. My main source of energy comes from my vegetables. I actually stopped eating meat a while ago. The guys give it to me, but the main part of my pregame meal is veggies and salad. As for my pregame, I come to the rink and do a hot/cold tub. It wakes me up after a nap and heats up my legs and stuff.

MC: Favorite restaurant in Denver and what are you ordering?
ROR: I have to say Vesta, 18th and Blake. It’s a dipping grill and it’s all different sauces and the bread comes with roasted garlic. I used to always get the tenderloin, the best steaks I’ve ever had. Not ordering that anymore but I recommend the steak there.

MC: Favorite vacation spot and why?
ROR: Ireland. Love the people over there and how they get along. I got to golf over there too, and I always enjoy golf. Having my heritage being from there, it’s a place I want to go. Great people and great golf courses.

O’Reilly is a pending unrestricted free agent after the 2015-16 season. His name is undoubtedly mentioned in every telephone conversation between the Avs’ front office and GMs across the league, and that will continue heading into the March 2 trade deadline. Terry Frei and I, along with NHL.com’s Rick Sadowski, will meet with Avalanche GM Joe Sakic over the next week or so to discuss trade-deadline matters. Stay tuned.

Cody McLeod’s line: four shots, five hits, two blocked shots in 8:58. He was tossed from the game 6:22 into the third period after racking up 30 minutes of penalties. He had two fighting majors and absorbed a over-another-guy’s-shoulder sucker punch in a scrum from Jason Demers before both were given 10-minute misconducts. We aren’t sure why McLeod got the additional game misconduct, and the crowd of 18,087 didn’t want to see McLeod go.

So I figured I’d help bring him back to do the Altitude postgame No. 1 star interview — based primarily on his rugged play when he still had his skates on. Plays away from the puck can be as important as what you do with the puck on your stick. McLeod did plenty to halt Colorado’s four-game losing streak.

Helluva #1 Star pick tonight by @MikeChambers, tip of the cap to you sir. Cody Mac brought the pain tonight and set the tone for the #Avs

Who would you have picked for the No. 1 star? The guys with one goal: Gabe Landeskog (changed from Nathan MacKinnon), Alex Tanguay, Jarome Iginla, Dennis Everberg? Everberg and Tanguay got their second points of the night in the final minute, long after my selections had to be made. Goalie Semyon Varlamov? He had 15 saves after two periods and 24 for the game, and was at best the No. 3 star. A defensemen or two were in the running — Brad Stuart and Nate Guenin — because both had assists and led the charge in front of Varlamov. But I settled on McLeod because hockey is a rugged sport, nobody plays as rugged as No. 55, and he played his role to perfection in all three periods. And, I’ll admit, I wanted to see the crowd’s response when McLeod came out of the dressing room in sweats. McLeod wears the “A” because he’s a great team guy. The fans love him too; he’s always the one guy who goes to battle every game.

When: The defending Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings play the Avalanche on Wednesday, the first of two meetings this season in Denver.

What’s up: Shore, a 22-year-old rookie, was born in the Mile High City and attended the University of Denver, playing three seasons for the Pioneers before signing with the Kings in the spring of 2013. He had played in nine games for the Kings entering Saturday after being called up from the minors for the first time in January before the all-star break. He was the American Hockey League’s second-leading scorer at the time.

Background: Shore is the second of David and Sarah Shore’s four sons. The couple, with no hockey background at the time, met while attending law school at DU, and their first date was at a Pioneers hockey game. The first three boys have played at DU, including the oldest, Drew of the Calgary Flames organization, and Quentin, a junior center and Ottawa Senators draftee. Nick was drafted by the Kings in the third round (82nd overall) in 2011. The youngest brother, Baker, 15, also plays hockey.

Chambers’ take: Nick is a solid end-to-end hockey player who might have the best pro career of the three NHL-drafted Shores. The Kings’ philosophy begins with winning puck battles against the wall, and Shore’s strength is in the small-games area. Shore is in an ideal situation, and his NHL career appears bright.

Lineup news from the Avalanche (22-22-11) morning skate at the Pepsi Center is here. Dallas (26-21-8), which beat Florida 2-0 at home Friday night, did not have a morning skate and is going without forwards Tyler Seguin (knee), Ales Hemsky (lower body), Patrick Eaves (concussion) and Antoine Roussel (suspension) against the Avs. Here’s the video of Seguin’s injury (out 2-4 weeks) late in Friday’s game against the Panthers:

John Mitchell as a Ranger against the Avalanche in March 2012. (Bill Kostroun, Associated Press)

John Mitchell will center the Avalanche’s third line, between Cody McLeod and Dennis Everberg, Thursday night against the New York Rangers. He played 63 games with the Rangers in 2011-12, plus 17 to open the season with the Rangers’ AHL affiliate, then known as the Connecticut Whale (did they use “Brass Bonanza”?) before reverting to Hartford Wolf Pack.

That run with New York came after he broke into the league with a 159-game stint with the Toronto Maple Leafs and a March 2011 trade to the Rangers.

“We had a good team that year,” Mitchell said after the morning skate. “We went deep into the playoffs and we had the Winter Classic (at Philadelphia) and the HBO (reality show), so it was a fun year.”

WINNIPEG, Manitoba — Season-long inconsistency from game to game, sometimes period to period, and an 0-for-26 power play of late has the Avalanche six points behind a wild-card playoff spot and 12th place in the 14-team Western Conference. Recently, the Avs used desperation 6-on-5 goals late in the games to steal points. Take those points away and Colorado is already looking to build for next season.

With 28 games remaining and optimism shrinking — virtually no sustained success or improvement in any area besides 6-on-5 desperation — the Avs are likely looking at the March 2 trade deadline and wondering how they can get better for 2015-16. Off camera following Sunday’s 5-3 loss to the Jets, I asked coach Patrick Roy what he’s thinking about his team and the trade deadline.

Roy, after all, also holds the title of vice president of hockey operations. But he politely referred me to GM Joe Sakic — and I hope that conversation will take place soon. Sakic probably isn’t going to play his cards publicly, but he and Roy will undoubtedly (and obviously) listen to offers from playoff-bound teams in the coming weeks.

WINNIPEG, Manitoba — Greetings from the frozen tundra. The Avalanche arrived here late Saturday night after losing 1-0 to Minnesota in St. Paul. The game story is here. Your one-stop-shop Avalanche news from us is always here, where you’ll find Sunday’s published items that includes a NHL column on Wild left wing Jason Zucker, the former DU Pioneers standout from Las Vegas, a gameday spotlight on Winnipeg D/F Dustin Byfuglien, our weekly player profile on the New York Rangers’ Rick Nash, and links to this blog.

No morning skate for the Avs. It’s a 5 p.m. start here, marking the second time this season the Avs will lose at least an hour and conclude a consecutive-night trip at Winnipeg. The Jets are relatively fresh, having last played at home Friday in a 2-1 overtime loss against Chicago. Winnipeg is on a six-game losing streak.

As you can imagine, the drama surrounding Evander Kane is pretty thick here. Sunday’s Winnipeg Free Press — still a large-page, beautifully fat newspaper like the Post of the old — has extensive coverage of the troubled young winger. Gary Lawless wrote an exceptional column about Kane, who will almost certainly be traded. Read Lawless’ piece and you’ll see additional Kane-interest links. The timeline is interesting, disclosing incidents I didn’t previously know. My first thought was, Kane’s behavior is generally accepted in the other professional sports leagues, such as the NBA, and it’s refreshing to know the Jets won’t tolerate it any longer.

Patrick Roy after 1-0 loss at Minnesota, Colorado’s second straight shutout loss and eighth of the season:

New York Rangers left wing Rick Nash (61) greets his teammates after scoring in the first period of an NHL hockey game Boston Bruins at Madison Square Garden in New York, Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2015. (Kathy Willens, The Associated Press)

Spotlight on… Rick Nash, left wing, Rangers

When: New York plays the Avs on Thursday, the Rangers’ annual visit to Denver. Colorado beat the Rangers 4-3 in a shootout Nov. 13 at New York.

What’s up: Nash, 30, is having a career year with his second NHL team, scoring his NHL-leading 32nd goal in his 49th game. He is on pace to easily surpass his career high of 41 goals, set in the 2003-04 season as a 19-year-old with the Columbus Blue Jackets, and get 40 goals for the third time. Through Friday, Nash’s plus-20 rating was the best of his NHL career.
Background: Nash was the No. 1 pick in the 2002 draft and reached 30 goals in seven of his eight seasons with the Blue Jackets. He is the prototype power forward, a gifted scorer in a 6-foot-4, 213-pound body. Nash was traded to the Rangers in summer 2012 — along with Steven Delisle and a third-round draft pick — for Artem Anisimov, Brandon Dubinsky, Tim Erixon and a 2013 first-round draft pick.

Chambers’ take: Nash is on pace to score 500 goals by age 34, but his Hockey Hall of Fame candidacy will depend on what he does in the playoffs the rest of his career. In the 2013 and 2014 postseasons, the Rangers played a total of 37 games, but Nash scored only four goals. He is getting $7.9 million this season and is under contract through 2017-18.

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Tyson Barrie will not play in Saturday night’s game between the Avalanche and Minnesota Wild at the Xcel Energy Center. More on that soon at www.denverpost.com/avalanche.

The Avs and Wild meet for the third time this season, and first since Oct. 11. Colorado is looking for its first goal against Minnesota, having been blanked 5-0 and 3-0 in the first two games of the season. Since then, the Avs are 22-17-11 and the Wild 22-20-6.

Detroit center Joakim Andersson passes the puck to a teammate against Avalanche defenseman Jan Hejda during the first period Thursday night at the Pepsi Center. (Brent Lewis, The Denver Post)

After the Avalanche’s 3-0 loss to Detroit Thursday, Colorado coach Patrick Roy pulled no punches about his team’s power-play ineptitude, and those comments are in the game story.

I didn’t have room for his additional comments in response to my questions, including about whether he wanted Nathan MacKinnon fighting and about the fact that the Pepsi Center continues to look like Joe Louis Arena West on Detroit game nights here.

I prefaced the question about MacKinnon, who fought with Jonathan Ericsson only 44 seconds into the game, with the usual concessions about it’s an emotional sport and lines need to be drawn and all that, but…

Avalanche coach Patrick Roy suspects GM Joe Sakic is going to try to stack a probable Colorado-Detroit alumni game during next season’s outdoor event with the Red Wings at Coors Field next February. Patty says he might buy new equipment for the game, if he participates:

Gameday: Avalanche defenseman Tyson Barrie spoke to the media during an off-ice workout Wednesday and looked fine. He scored the game-tying goal in Tuesday’s dramatic victory at Dallas and participated in the shootout. But he’s out with the hip injury Thursday night against the Detroit Red Wings at the Pepsi Center. More on that story here.

I shot a lot of Tout video at the morning skate. Take a look (and yes, the picture on my cover page is Scott Parker ready to pummel me at a Denver Cutthroats charity game a couple years ago at the Denver Coliseum; thankfully we were just messin’ around):

Matt Duchene, a big Avalanche fan during the Colorado-Detroit rivalry of the 1990s and 2000s, talking about Red Wings:

Forward Dennis Everberg, defenseman Stefan Elliott and goalie Reto Berra were the lone practice participants Wednesday, while everyone else had off-ice workouts at team headquarters. The Avs, 3-2 shootout winners at Dallas on Tuesday, begin Wednesday night in ninth place in the Western Conference, four points behind Calgary/Vancouver for the final wild-card playoff spot. San Jose plays at Calgary at 8 p.m. MT in the Avs’ only game of significant interest.

Colorado hosts Detroit at 7 p.m. Thursday. Don’t be surprised if the Avs fail to score on the power play but pull out a point or two by scoring with a 6-on-5 attack with goalie Semyon Varlamov on the bench for a sixth attacker. The Avs have failed to capitalize on their last 20 power plays but are 4-of-4 recently with a vacated net. Red Wings rookie goalie Petr Mrazek, 22, will make his ninth consecutive start against the Avs. Mrazek is 6-2 since Jimmy Howard went down with a torn groin Jan. 10.

Tyson Barrie talks about struggling power play and lights-out 6-on-5 advantage:

Couple small-scale player notes: Avs winger Jamie McGinn, who had back surgery after playing in just 19 games, was seen walking around in workout clothes Wednesday. He’s been ruled out for the season, but you never know. … Defenseman Maxim Noreau, the leading scorer for the Lake Erie Monsters of the American Hockey League, has undergone season-ending shoulder surgery. Noreau has 30 points (22 assists) in 39 games after signing a two-year free agent deal with Colorado last summer. He’ll be back. … Former Avs No. 1 draft pick Joey Hishon of has been producing lately, now with 11 goals and 25 points (minus-9) in 39 games for Lake Erie.

Avs coach Patrick Roy talks about Thursday’s game against the Detroit Red Wings and the tight Western Conference playoff race:

Interested in Toronto defenseman Cody Franson, and perhaps Dian Phaneuf? The Maple Leafs (48 points) are selling. The Arizona Coyotes (44 points) are also reportedly ready to become sellers, with D Oliver Ekman-Larsson on the block. OEL leads the Coyotes in goals (15) and ice time (25:09). Might the Avs go after Franson/Phaneuf and/or OEL? They’ll inquire, no doubt, but the price(s) will be more than what Colorado will be willing to pay. Getting OEL, for example, will probably require a top-six forward/top-4 D, a top prospect and a No. 1 draft pick. Only the deep elite teams in position to make a strong playoff run will be able to make that deal. … For Avs fans, you’d be better off hoping to make a change-of-scenery deal with the Maple Leafs in what appears to be a “blow-up” effort in Toronto.

Mr. Terry Frei is stuck in Dallas, thanks to a Colorado-based airline which apparently doesn’t have access to a replacement engine starter. Terry was scheduled to cover the Avs-Wings game but I’ll be handling the morning skate activities, if not the game. I’ll be on the next road trip, a back-to-back set in Minnesota and Winnipeg beginning Saturday in St. Paul.

Don't think in all my years of traveling have I ever been on a flight now scheduled to leave 14 hours late. Avs will beat me home by 24 hrs.

Nathan MacKinnon had one of the Avalanche successes in the shootout. (Associated Press/LM Otero)

DALLAS — Well, when the team you cover is down 2-0 in the third period and it looks as if the result will be a significant setback in said team’s quest to make the playoffs, the story is already composed in large measure — with commensurate gloom, doom and sharp edges throughout.

The Avalanche had only eight shots through two periods Tuesday night and seemed headed to its seventh shutout loss of the season, a startling distinction for a team shut out only once the previous season … and in the 71st game.

And then the comeback happened, and Colorado ended up claiming the 3-2 win over Dallas with a 4-3 edge in an 11-round shootout.

So quick reconstruction happens with the story, both as the game gets to and goes through overtime for quick posting (yes, with the winner plugged in the second the shootout ends), and then is quickly touched up after interviews for the later edition and for reposting.

Former Avalanche general manager Francois Giguere is working on the other side of the fence in Denver. He’s still playing the financial game with NHL players and coaches, but now he is looking out for their savings and retirement. Giguere, 51, is a certified financial adviser for Denver’s A&I Financial Services, having recently obtained his licence.

During his front-office career, Giguere hated seeing professional athletes mishandle their finances, and most recently, learning that Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Jack Johnson, 28, filed for bankruptcy Oct. 7. Before this season, Johnson’s NHL earnings were about $18 million, and he began his seven-year $30.5 million contract in 2011. His 2014-15 salary is $5 million, yet he sought financial disaster relief.

Johnson’s finances were mismanaged by his parents. “I’d say I picked the wrong people who led me down the wrong path,” Johnson told The Columbus Dispatch. “I’ve got people in place who are going to fix everything now. It’s something I should have done a long time ago.”

Said Giguere: “He let his parents manage his money and he lost everything. I want to play a role in preventing this from happening to another athlete. My 20 years experience working with players has made me appreciate and respect these young men and I want to be a part of their advisory team to help then successfully prepare for life after their sport.”Read more…

What’s up: This week, it’s the second and final 2014-15 regular-season matchup of one-time bitter Western Conference rivals. The rivalry has taken a turn to the conventional since the Avalanche’s regression in recent years and especially since the Red Wings switched to the Eastern Conference last season. The teams won’t meet again in Denver until the Stadium Series game next year.

Background: Promoting the Coors Field game will involve efforts, both reasonable and ridiculously contrived, to harken back to the “Blood Feud” days of yore in the rivalry. So get ready for the replays of Lemieux vs. McCarty, Patrick Roy vs. Mike Vernon and Chris Osgood, and Marc Crawford going ballistic on the bench at Scotty Bowman … and more.

Frei’s take: Let former Colorado Rockies Larry Walker, Barry Beck and Lanny McDonald play for the Avalanche in the Alumni Game.

Minus 30-something forwards Alex Tanguay and Jarome Iginla, the Avalanche practiced Saturday morning, following its 3-0 win over visiting Nashville on Friday. Tanguay has a bruised hand, absorbing a Seth Jones slap shot in his palm against the Predators, but should be fine. He returned Friday and is expected to practice with the team Monday. The Avs will take Super Bowl Sunday off. Iginla, 37, was taking a maintenance day.

The Arizona Coyotes and Vancouver Canucks are also under contract with their far-flung AHL affiliates through 2015-16. Arizona is partnered with the Portland (Maine) Pirates and Vancouver is with the Utica (N.Y.) Comets. Naturally, the Coyotes and Canucks would benefit by moving their AHL teams west and join the Pacific Division, but Sakic said the same isn’t necessarily true with the Avs/Monsters, who might benefit from keeping their AHL operations in the Eastern Standard Time zone from a Lake Erie day-to-day travel standpoint.

Of course, Sakic noted that it would be nice to have the Avs’ AHL affiliate within an hour drive or flight of Denver, but they wouldn’t have that by being a member of the Pacific Division. As for owning your own AHL franchise, Sakic said it isn’t as important as “running” the team how you want to run it, and the Avs are doing just that with the Monsters.

Ultimately, the Avs are probably better served to align themselves with the Minnesota Wild (Iowa Wild), Dallas Stars (Texas Stars), Florida Panthers (San Antonio Rampage), St. Louis Blues (Chicago Wolves) and Chicago Blackhawks (Rockford Ice Dogs) in a mid-western AHL division, opposed to the Pacific Division. Ideally, their AHL base would be from Colorado through Kansas and Nebraska, to Missouri.

Semyon Varlamov in his shutout of Nashville. (Andy Cross, The Denver Post)

Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov had his fourth shutout of the season Friday night against Nashville, and afterwards — before the media met with Colorado coach Patrick Roy — I politely prefaced my question to Varlamov with the concession that no NHL shutout is easy. Then I asked if this was one of his easier shutouts.

Varlamov laughed before answering.

“To get a shutout in this league is not easy, I can tell you that,” he said. “It’s always tough. But today I think we played solid 60 minutes and the boys played unbelievable in front of me. I saw lots of shots from the blue line, which is important for me — to see the shots. I hate when I don’t see the shots. But the guys did a great job. And I think we had a good start, too. It’s very important to score the first goal in this league so that you get that confidence and you play with confidence for the rest of the game.” Read more…

The American Hockey League’s move to a true Western Conference began with Thursday’s official announcement of the new Pacific Division, with five California-based teams serving as the triple-A affiliates for the Anaheim Ducks, Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks. Here’s David Pollak’s story from the San Jose Mercury News. Pollak is the beat writer for the Sharks.

The Avalanche, Vancouver Canucks and Arizona Coyotes will likely be the next NHL teams to move their AHL operations to the west. The Avalanche’s AHL team, of course, is in Cleveland (Lake Erie Monsters), Vancouver’s are the Utica (N.Y.) Comets and Arizona’s top prospects play for the Portland (Maine) Pirates. Before we get into where these three teams might go, take a look at this from the AHL news release:

– The Anaheim Ducks will purchase the Norfolk Admirals AHL franchise and will relocate it from Norfolk, Va., to San Diego, Calif.
— The AHL franchise owned by the Calgary Flames will relocate from Glens Falls, N.Y., to Stockton, Calif.
— The AHL franchise owned by the Edmonton Oilers will relocate from Oklahoma City, Okla., to Bakersfield, Calif.
— The AHL franchise owned by the Los Angeles Kings will relocate from Manchester, N.H., to Ontario, Calif.
— The AHL franchise owned by the San Jose Sharks will relocate from Worcester, Mass., to San Jose, Calif.

Among those five NHL teams, only the Ducks do not own their AHL affiliate. I’m hearing the days of “borrowing” a building and its staff are over, and the only way to run an NHL franchise is to also own and operate your AHL interests. Thus, the Avalanche, like the Ducks, are pursuing a purchase and will relocate within 100 miles or so of the big-league team. This doesn’t mean that Avalanche owner Josh Kroenke builds a 10,000-seat Colorado arena and fronts the start-up money, but it likely means Kroenke has a majority stake in a company that partners with The Broadmoor World Arena in Colorado Springs or Denver Coliseum. Why did the Colorado Springs World Arena change its name to The Broadmoor World Arena last year? Because the arena’s new owner is Anschutz Entertainment Group, which owns the nearby The Broadmoor Hotel and, ahem, the Los Angeles Kings. Phil Anschutz loves his sports, and the Avalanche’s goal is to have its AHL team play in Colorado Spring’s best venue. One problem: the World Arena is Olympic-size ice, 15-feet wider than the NHL dimensions. That red flag could potentially spike interest in the Denver Coliseum, owned by the city, and Denver Cutthroats owner John Hayes would be your ideal partner.

No doubt the Canucks and Coyotes are also thinking about relocation, and perhaps the Winnipeg Jets — whose AHL team is in St. John’s, which is east of Nova Scotia. The future moves might take years, but they will happen. Ultimately, the new Pacific Division teams will not have to fly to the East Coast — unless it’s for the Calder Cup Finals — because the Western Conference will be stocked with western-based teams.

I don’t have a map in front of me, but currently the most western AHL teams in the Western Conference are the Texas Stars (Dallas affiliate) and San Antonio Rampage (Florida). That’s going to change, and Colorado’s AHL affiliate — currently the Lake Erie Monsters in Cleveland — could relocate in a Mountain Time zone. I’m hearing Denver (Denver Coliseum), Colorado Springs (World Arena) and Salt Lake City (EnergySolutions Arena, originally Delta Center) are the top options.

Denver Cutthroats owner John Hayes might be in the middle of a deal to bring the Avs’ AHL affiliate to the Rocky Mountains. So I called him. “At this time, I can’t comment,” he politely told me. Make no mistake, the Denver/Colorado Springs/Salt Lake City Cutthroats of the AHL would work.

Former Cutthroats coach Derek Armstrong, the former longtime L.A. Kings forward who was the CHL’s coach of the year last season, also might be involved. Armstrong was the Cutthroats’ GM when the CHL collapsed in August. “Army” is still in Denver and tight with Avalanche executives Joe Sakic and Patrick Roy.

If Colorado makes a move, it doesn’t mean the the Lake Erie Monsters will disband. The most successful AHL cities are bound to keep their teams or inherit another. Ultimately, the idea is to have the Western Conference and Eastern Conference make sense geographically and only play conference games during the regular season.

The AHL would work in Colorado. The state’s previous minor-league teams failed because they were double-A or lower. The triple-A model has great promise.

Terry Frei graduated from Wheat Ridge High School in the Denver area and has degrees in history and journalism from the University of Colorado-Boulder. He worked for the Rocky Mountain News while attending CU and joined the Post staff after graduation. He has also worked at the Oregonian in Portland, Ore., and The Sporting News. His seventh book, March 1939: Before the Madness, was issued in February 2014.

Chambers covers college and professional hockey for The Denver Post. He has written for the Post since 1994, after dumping his first 9-to-5 office job a couple years out of college. He primarily follows the University of Denver hockey team and helps cover the Avalanche.